Even the Sun Sets in Paradise

A tall slim girl with short blonde hair poked her head around the door and grinned when she saw the baby in Layton’s arms. I stiffened.
“Oh my god, she’s so cute,” Alice gasped, crouching down next to Layton, tickling the baby’s stomach. I instantly felt a pang of jealousy but tried to ignore it, resisting the urge to snatch my baby away from her. I was still lying on my front across the sofa, completely making myself at home. Alice must have thought I was a right freak, but I didn’t really care to be quite honest.
“You must be Jenna,” Alice grinned, turning her attention to me. She was pretty, and she was being sweet, too sweet if you ask me. There was something unsettling about how cheerful she was being. I shook the thought from my head, deciding I was probably just being jealous and unfair.
“Hey,” I smiled, raising my hand slightly to wave before shifting so that I was sitting up, making room for Alice to sit down between Layton and I. Despite my best efforts, I still felt a certain amount of hostility towards her, and Cyrus clearly noticed because he couldn’t stop smirking at me.
“Anyway, I just need to make sure of something,” I began, getting back to the matter at hand.
“Okay.”
“I’m sorry if this sounds controlling or bitchy, but you know I’m just worried about the baby,” I paused for a moment, trying to put my feelings into words, “You’re not going to do anything stupid around her, are you?”
“If by stupid, you mean drugs, then no,” Layton explained and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. “You know I wouldn’t do that to you Jenna.”
“Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me you freak. I know I can be a jerk but I’m not that bad,” he smirked. I suddenly felt like a huge weight had been lifted. At least I could rest knowing my baby was safe. I spent the next few minutes showing Layton how to make up a formula feed and how to work the baby listener and everything else he would need to know. Then I spent another ten minutes going over everything again, just in case he misunderstood the first time. Eventually, Cyrus had to drag me away, but not before I gave Brooklyn one last kiss. I wasn’t sure whether to hug Layton or not, especially since Alice was there, but he answered the question for me, pulling me into a tight embrace and quickly kissing my cheek. I realised I would have to give Alice a hug too, otherwise it would look rude, so I gathered all the will I had and gave her a quick friendly hug.
“It was lovely to meet you Jenna,” she smiled.
“Yeah, you too,” I nodded as Cyrus dragged me out the door.
“You complete bullshitter,” he smirked as soon as the door had shut, picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder.
“Cyrus, put me down!” I squealed, laughing when he finally put me down next to the car.
“You can’t stand her, can you?” he chuckled.
“Nope.”

Over the next few weeks, things began to fall into a steady routine. I learnt to balance school, work, the baby and my social life, and my stress level finally started to decrease. Since Brooklyn came back from spending the night at Layton’s in one piece, I agreed to let him have her for one night and two consecutive days every week. It was tough, but I reasoned it was for the best. It meant Mel’s mum didn’t have to look after her every day, and it meant Julie and I could get a good night’s sleep every once in a while. It also allowed Brooklyn to develop a good relationship with her dad, something which I really felt was important. Of course, it also meant she was developing a relationship with Alice, but I tried not to think about that.

One Friday night, I arrived home after school with Brooklyn and Mel to find the guys all sat in the living room.
“I didn’t know you were coming round tonight,” I frowned, not that I minded of course.
“Yeah, we thought we’d come and see our favourite people,” Cyrus smirked, pulling me into a hug. We said hi to everyone and as usual, everyone fought over Brooklyn.
“Are you all staying over?” I questioned.
“If that’s alright,” Rowan said.
“Of course, I’m just going to put Brooke upstairs for a nap,” I told them, taking her from Layton’s arms and carrying her to her room. When I came back, they were looking through the pizza menu, ready to order dinner.
“Hey, where are Alice and Amber?” I asked, surprised that the guys hadn’t invited their girlfriends over too. An awkward silence fell over the group.
“Well…Alice is a hoe, so that’s her out of the equation,” Cyrus said simply.
“What do you mean?” I persisted, looking to Layton.
“She slept with some other guy,” Layton murmured.
“Oh my god, are you okay?” I gasped, dropping my hand to rest on his shoulder.
“I’m fine,” he said with a genuine smile, “I didn’t really like her much anyway.” Don’t get me wrong, I did feel bad for Layton because no matter what, I wanted him to be happy, but I’d be lying if I said a tiny part of me wasn’t glad they were finally over. I never liked her anyway, in case that wasn’t completely obvious. At least I could maybe get my best friend back now. We’d drifted apart so much since he’d been with Alice and I hated that. I’d been so busy I didn’t have much time to think about it, but when I did, it hurt a lot. I missed him like hell, so the thought of being best friends with him again gave me butterflies.